Youngsters get involved in democracy
(Date of issue: Thursday 9 October 2008)
Carlisle’s youngsters will be getting to grips with democracy,
next week and telling Carlisle City Council what issues affect
them.
Local Democracy Week (13-19 October), the national campaign
which aims to get people involved in decision making and to take
part in democracy, gets underway on Monday 13 October.
This is the eighth year running that Carlisle City Council has
supported this campaign and have organised two events in
partnership with Carlisle District primary and secondary
schools.
To launch the week, year 6 pupils from four primary schools will
be taking part in a Young Mayor event on Monday 13 October, in the
Carlisle City Council Chamber.
The schools who have signed up to take part in the Young Mayor
elections, are Hayton CE School, Stanwix Primary School, Inglewood
Junior School and last year’s winners – Brook Street Primary
School.
Chaired by the Mayor, each Young Mayor candidate will present to
an audience of classmates, family, councillors and staff their
manifesto. He/she will say why he/she would like to be Young Mayor
and why he/she would make a good Young Mayor. After each
presentation, there will be a question and answer session followed
by a vote, in true election style, with voting slips, a polling
booth and ballot boxes. The winning candidate will become Young
Mayor 2008.
This is a good opportunity to find out what the ‘hot’ topics are
with our younger children.
This year will be the turn of Newman Secondary School to host
the Political Speed Dating event on Tuesday 14
October.
Up to 10 councillors and 10 pupils will follow speed-dating
rules. Each session is three minutes long with a two-minute break
for the students to assess and score how well they thought the
councillors tackled the questions and the issues raised.
All the questions will be about Carlisle City Council services
and will provide councillors with an opportunity to find out what
young people think about the Council’s services.
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